Wind
by curlyfry
Summary: PostNaraku. Koga is now a powerful prince after Kaguras blood. Shessoumaru offers sanctuary, but his help does not come without a price. What could he desire that he does not already have? no, not a sexslave! But is it more than Kags can give?someKogaRin


Ok, this is my first stab at fanfiction EVER!! I wrote it a lil while ago and then found it today and thought...hell, may as well put it up. If even like, TWO people like it, then I will write more! I have a whole story in my head...and future chapters would be longer. It would be a steamy Kagura Sess Romance!!! yay!!! who doesn't want to read that..huh?? well, um.../runs and hides/

Oh yeah! and none of this Inuyasha stuff belongs to me X )

* * *

The wind was restless today. It shook the boughs of the trees in the garden, tearing at flower petals, and sending leaves skittering across the stones of the courtyard. With an echo of Rin's blithe tenacity, it plucked at the hem of Sesshoumaru's kimono, tugging at its sleeves and teasing at their edges. It twisted strongly in his hair, agitated. It whipped heavy waves of sliver across his eyes before snapping them back again, over his shoulders. 

Sesshoumaru lifted his face, tasted the air, and wondered at the taste.

Again the wind rose, causing Sesshoumaru to shift, adjusting his stance so that he was once again secure on his perch. He stood atop the tall tree which graced the steep downward slop of the hill behind his home. Hidden away amongst the high foot hills, tucked on one side against a rocky flank of mountain, and providing a view to the remaining three quarters of the surrounding valley, Sesshoumaru's estate was well fortified, difficult to breach. Excluding an intruder who fell from the sky, no one could gain access to those sunlit halls, for they lay behind high walled defenses, stacked brick by brick with the thickest stones.

But despite his best efforts to keep outsiders _out, _this Sesshoumaru's power was apparently all-too magnetic, for his fortress never seemed to lack fool hardy strangers of one persuasion or other. Sesshoumaru resented having his peace disturbed over trivial matters. Really, when would weaklings learn that none ever got from Sesshoumaru what they hoped he might give them?

He was presently awaiting one such uninvited guest, having sensed a youkai circling his domain for the better part of two days. The branches beneath his feet rattled, like the force behind a hearty handshake. Sesshoumaru scented the wind again, knowing that his uninvited guest had finally decided to make an approach, and was rapidly closing in on his home.

He raised his eyes to the blustering horizon, catching sight of a faint shape there, white against white, moving more sedately, but less purposefully, than the bright and turbulent clouds which scuttled across the stark sky. Sesshoumaru gathered his youkai, allowing it to snake out guardedly towards the figure which floated in the distance, seeming to drift slowly towards him with less consequence than the falling of snow. His youkai snapped smartly, commanding attention. He sensed hesitation, then watched in satisfaction as the distant feather altered its course slightly.

Soon its form was large and distinct in his field of vision, and he could clearly make out the features of the woman kneeling upon it. Gradually, she came to hover before him. Face impassive, Sesshoumaru frankly looked her over, assessing the situation. Their gazes met, and Sesshoumaru looked into a sardonic smile. A smooth voice fell on his ears, rich with cocky cheer.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! It's been too long."

Sesshoumaru smelt anxiety, and blood.

"Kagura.

…

…

Why are you here?"

* * *

"Kagura! Kagura-chan! Wake up!" 

"Grsuwmph!" Barely conscious, Kagura groggily flapped her hand, sending a spiral of wind towards the irritatingly squeaky voice that had interrupted her pleasant dreams. "Go 'way Yumi…me an' Hiroki are havink a goodf timph…" Kagura curled more tightly around her pillow, giving it a sleepy squeeze. "…and stop giggling."

Ignoring Kagura's grumbling, Yumi cheerfully tickled her friend under the chin. "Oh I bet you were," She gawfed. "In fact, since Hiro-kun is apparently such a_ dream_ in the sac, I may just have to steal him for _myself!_" Yumi gave a mighty wrench on the pillow as she spoke, dragging the still clinging Kagura across the bed with it. "Kagura, I think you're choking him."

Kagura buried her face in her arms, muffling her voice. "Stop yanking on him Yumi, I don't want Hiro-kun all bent out of sha—ieee---OW!" Wind sorceress and floor connected in an undignified tangle of bed sheets, as Yumi clutch 'Hiroki' to her chest in an attempt to smother her hilarity. Kagura re-gathered her limbs gracefully, settling into an elegant kneel. She slapped her hands on the floor sourly. "Why you little RAT!" Yumi swatted with the pillow, the action sending her short white hair into disarray over the little round ears atop her head. Her pink eyes winked playfully.

"Get up you slug. Apparently His Lordship has requested to see you in his offices. Something about needing your help over a new alliance," Yumi's face took on a look of puzzlement but she shrugged, "So move it!" With a grin and a last lob of the pillow, she exited, leaving Kagura sitting bewilderedly on her bedroom floor. Sighing, Kagura rose to dress, all the while muttering over how she had _thought_ she'd had the day off.

Not much later, Kagura found herself sitting before her Lord and current employer, wishing that she'd had time to grab breakfast. She was surprised to have found herself directed into the back offices, rather than His Lordship's regular offices for state business. Something was up, and Kagura didn't like it. Since she rarely stayed put, even when she was off duty, the wanderlust in Kagura's blood would normally jump at the opportunity for a new assignment. But today, anticipation was strangely absent, leaving Kagura cold with the vague feeling that a turn for the worse was close at hand.

For the past eight years, she had been a member of a small feudal kingdom run predominately by a clan of rat demons. She was employed as a special messenger, often sent ahead of parties to relay messages, gather information, or scout. Misashi-sama, a warm and buoyant character, and a Lord who concerned himself foremost with his pack, never hesitated to remind her of her value to his holding. After all, rats were designed less for long distance travel than for…skittering about—making Kagura's particular brand of services a true commodity for these people. As was evident to Kagura by the generous stipend she received monthly.

With this as her reality for more then half a decade, Kagura was understandably softened, enough so to suppress her predictive misgivings and continue counting the tiles under her nose, even while His Lordship's silence lengthened uneasily.

"Kagura." His tone was hollow, yet ringing with unspoken remorse. A wariness was beginning now to overtake Kagura's enforced calm, yet this tension did not show as she rose gracefully from her bow to kneel upright before Misashi-sama.

"Milord." It seemed a flinch passed over his features, drawn as they were and smothering the customary smile.

"I wish to thank you," Misashi-sama began, "For your dedicated service to myself and my pack. I cannot…" Here he paused, his pink eyes searching her face painfully, and the force in that gaze held her, although Kagura felt herself balancing on a pin's head. "I cannot presume to ask for you forgiveness…" Somehow, she knew that in the next few moments, something would go horribly amiss, and every thing, all the comfort and peace she had found in this new home, would join Naraku and her chains in the past. "I hope you understand that there was no other choice…." Funny how just this morning Kagura had laughed with her friend, never suspecting that today would be any different than another day off. She did not even hear Misashi say, _I'm sorry_, as she had already whirled around to face the three figures silently slinking through the door way, filling the small room and gliding towards her.

As though shot through with an electric current, Kagura swept into a battle crouch, one leg bent, and the other stretched in a lunge, her arms crooked, each with only two fingers extended. She drew a breath, momentarily swamped with adrenaline as her body snapped wire taut in preparation. Like a pinwheel caught in a gale, her mind flipped wildly, only to return again and again to the fan and feather that lay tucked in the chest in her room. The fan and the feather that she had to reach if she wanted a fighting chance…for without those tools to harness her powers, Kagura's affinity with the wind would only amount to parlor tricks.

The silhouette of Koga's bare chest, his bristled tail, filled the outline of the only exit. He bared his teeth in a wolf's grin. "Hey, Kagura!" He yapped, his words a sinister sing-song, "I've come… to get my re_venge_!"

* * *

"Well," Kagura drawled in her cold purr, "lets just say…that I have a bit of a… problem. And that I may require…assistance." She leveled Sesshoumaru with a meaningful rake of her shadowed gaze. Sesshoumaru returned the look with equal frigidity, drawing out the stare until he broke eye contact by slowly lowering his lids, briefly dropping his eyes before raising them pointedly again. One eyebrow cocked in silent expectation. Kagura's mouth tightened. So this was how it was going to be, huh? Beggars can't be choosers as they say, but Kagura couldn't help the clench of bitter disappointment that curled in her empty stomach. Hooding her own eyes, dark and angry…yet embarrassingly hopeless, Kagura complied with Sesshoumaru's unspoken command. Her feather sunk until it floated at level with his feet, putting her kneeling form well below his eye level…in a position of submission. She concluded her proposition with a touch less of pride: 

"At a price, of course."


End file.
